Saratoga National's Brian Hart is safe at third as the ball gets away from Mechanicville-Stillwater's Jason McClements during Tuesday's game at West Side Rec Field. Hart was able to score on the play. Ed Burke 7/3/12

Saratoga National's Brian Hart pitches against Mechanicville-Stillwater during Tuesday's game at West Side Rec Field. Ed Burke 7/3/12

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The Saratoga National Little League 11- and 12-year-old travel team demonstrated its superb overall balance against Mechanicville-Stillwater en route to a 12-2 semifinals "mercy rule" victory Tuesday at West Side Rec.

The National team will play for the right to earn a spot in the District 11 championship game Friday at 6 p.m. at West Side Rec against the winner of the game between Hudson Falls and Saratoga American.

Saratoga, which compiled 17 hits and three home runs, was dominant at the plate. Noah McFarland, Brian Hart and Kyle Powell each hit home runs, while Ryan Jones went 3-for-3 with an RBI and run scored. Matt Chmiel finished 2-for-2 with an RBI, Garret Camoin recorded two singles and Jon Stewart tallied an RBI double.

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"Our approach at the plate was just to be very aggressive. I tell them to be patient and wait for the right pitch and put a swing on it," Saratoga National coach Brian Babcock said.

Starting pitcher Hart did not allow a hit in two strong innings of work and Alex Fredricks provided a solid inning of relief.

"We stress location when pitching, and Hart and Fredricks had good command and location tonight," Babcock said. "Alex just throws hard. ... He comes in and throws right at you. Anytime I can put those guys on the mound I feel very confident."

Mechanicville-Stillwater's bats came alive in the top of the fourth. The team tallied three consecutive singles to start the inning and left-fielder Jeff Halusic hit a two-RBI double two batters later. Fredricks stopped the bleeding by retiring the next two batters via ground balls.

Halusic, Drew Murphy, Riley Keoughan and Dante D' Ambro each tallied a base-hit. The squad was unable to develop any offensive rhythm, however.

"Saratoga is just a well balanced team," Mechanicville-Stillwater coach Larry Grayson said. "A lot of size, a lot of depth, great hitters. ... They hit a lot of home runs ... they're just a great overall team."

"D' Ambro is a great little pitcher," Grayson said. "He's a modified player at Mechanicville, he mixes it up a lot, changes speeds and has a great changeup. You're going to see big things out of him next year. ... He's a great athlete."

D' Ambro acknowledged how pleased he was with this season's performance.

"Our goal was to have a great season, and I think we did that.

We have a young team. ... Seven out of 12 players are 11 years old. Next year we're going to have most of these kids back and we'll do the best we can."

Babcock was satisfied with Saratoga's performance and commended Mechanicville-Stillwater for their effort.

"I'm very proud of how we played ... great defense, great hitting and pitching. ... I'm proud of (Mechanicville-Stillwater) too," Babcock said.

"We made some mistakes here and there with baserunning but we'll clean those up."